I love wine stores that do tastings. I stopped into the N.Z Winemakers Center in mid-town Auckland (My new favourite store) and discovered they're one of them. Here's a couple I tried.

Giesen 2001 Reserve Barrel Selection Chardonnay: This one got Skeeters' Big-Ass Tick of Approval. Very complex wine to my taste, with some nice subtle buttery flavours lurking in the background and well-balanced oak levels. Another customer was equally impressed, being a self-admitted chardonnay freak. NZ$23.50

Giesen Riesling: My notes, hastly scribbled on the back of an ATM reciept, don't have the vintage. (I think it was the 2002) It was a lot sweeter than most rieslings I've tried, and not really to my taste. (The owner referred to it as a "riesling for Sav blanc drinkers"... a "training wine" if you like.) NZ$17.50

Harrier Rise 2000 "Uppercase": I've been by this winery in Keumeu a few times, and it's been closed every time. (It's a lifestyle winery, rather than a straight-out business.) This is a merlot that looks beautiful in the glass. Plenty of cheek-puckering tannins, doubly so if your an occasional-red drinker like me. The owner noted my expression and remarked "There's a lot going on in that one, isn't there?" I'll say... Layer on layer of flavours. Give my palate another few years and I'll be all over it like a rash.

I tasted one other, but since I ended up buying the bottle, i'll hold off until I re-taste that one at home. (It's the Harrier Rise "Monza" Cabernet Franc... only the second bottle of red I've ever brought. The red-loving father-in-law will be pleased, especially if I take it over to share this weekend.)

You shot your pet grape, ww? Or, did you have one of them cute little marsh rabbits as a pet? They're supposed to be not too bad eating if you cut out all the fat and, of course, the musk glands. What's the wine pairing, though?

Oops! My mistake. Thot the thread said Muskrat. A full-bodied Zin kills the foul flavor of the lil' suckers. Got stuck in the "T's" in my CDs this week. Have been amazed all over-agin with the amazing
"Take 6" group.Art Tatum and Jacky Terrasson hve also been well represented, each individually natch! Ear Candy for certain. WW [img]http://www.wines.com/ubb2/biggrin.gif[/img]

WW,
Were you the one who put me onto Bob James/Kirk Whalum "Joined at the Hip?" I've been listening to the audiocassette in my car and even bought the CD version to send to a bartender in Baltimore. The bartender shares my admiration for Sonny Rollins on sax but when I told him I was listening to Bob James in the car on the way to the restaurant, he had never heard of Bob James.
I've also been listening to Diana Krall's "Love Scenes" and a Muddy Waters tape.

I must be a loner out here who is not enamored with Krall. Her singing comes off to me as affectation, and there ain't much in the way of soul behind it, as in Billie or Sarah or even Nancy Wilson, who is a little on the slick side herself. Now, when it comes to Sonny Rollins--you whistlin' heavy lady...

Oh, Shiraz is also good with muskrat--provided you kill the muskrat first!

Sorry, Skeeter, this happens. Someone starts a perfectly honorable thread about wine. Then someone goes and drags Diana Krall into it (and uses the sainted name of Muddy Waters in the same breath. Wonders -- tsk!)

And the next thing you know, Foodie and I are singing the praises of real musicians like Sonny and Miles.

Foodie,
One tape deck in car but I don't listen to the same tape every day or every week. One drive to Raleigh can cover both sides of a cassette and then some.
I saw Sonny Rollins live in Zurich, Switzerland and Velden, Austria. Great shows. In Zurich he had the crowd standing and swaying to the music.

Yeppo there WOW it musta' been my-very-own-self. If you dig Sonny try to find his CD " Tenor Titan" and his " Glaobal Warming ". Some strong stuff. I've also used his "Ballads " CD to great advantage with CB. WW

Trust me, I'm used to it... on another board I frequent, someone can start a perfectly normal discussion of godzilla movies... and within three hours, it's a dissection of the works of Jimmy Buffett. A day later, it's back to Godzilla, only everyone's talking like pirates. yarrr.

Did anyone watch Access Hollywood last nite? Jane Monheidt, a VERY talented jazz singer did the intros into all of the sets for the 5 Queer Eyes fellers. Her voice was stunning as usual but her gyrations and mugging detracted the bloomin'-blue-blazes outta' me.Guess I really am gettin' to be a grumpy old man. WW [img]http://www.wines.com/ubb2/eek.gif[/img]